May 19 (Bloomberg)“This isn’t like your typical Nor’easter where a tree falls and your lights flicker,” said Michael Daly, founder of the buyers’ brokerage True North Realty Associates in North Haven, New York, and a Hamptons real estate blogger. “This is more like a Katrina,” he said, alluding to the historic 2005 Category 5 Hurricane. “It’s going to be a number of years before the market recovers.

As you may (or may not) know, traditionally agents work “for” the seller in the real estate transaction, meaning that they owe their fiduciary responsibility to the seller of the property, not you, the buyer. Why? Because that’s just how the business has been done for years. You know that NYState Disclosure that you are asked to sign, and someone mutters “Oh, just sign here acknowledging that I really work for the buyer, it’s just a formality”. Well, at that time, you are signing away your rights to be represented in perhaps one of the biggest business deals of your life.

So, why hire a Buyers Broker to represent you?

We represent your interests, not the interests of the seller

· We have access to all homes for sale on the market

· We point out the strengths and weaknesses of the desired property, including market value

· In a standard real estate transaction, it doesn’t cost a home buyer any more to use a buyer broker.

Who really pays the real estate broker?

· Whether a real estate broker represents the buyer or seller, there is always a brokerage fee paid from a real estate transaction when a broker is involved. More often than not there are two brokerage firms involved. One broker usually works for the seller; the other broker works with the buyer. Both brokers typically share the commission in the form of a “co-broke” or “cooperating broker fee.” Because the brokers share the transaction commission, there is no additional cost to either the buyer or seller for using their own individual broker.